Yep. In Batman Returns, their relationship was quite sexually-charged and intense. And their characters were actually developed and their feelings were made clear. They definitely had chemistry.

It was over the top, IMO. Especially on Pfeiffer's part.
But I view the Bat/Cat, Bruce/Selina relationship to be more complex than being sexually charged and driven by attraction. There's a moral grey line of whether they should even be in each others company as well as attraction, admiration, curiosity, and some disdain that I think Nolan managed to capture with his version. Don't get me wrong, I would have liked more scenes between them, but I liked what he delivered.

It was over the top, IMO. Especially on Pfeiffer's part.
But I view the Bat/Cat, Bruce/Selina relationship to be more complex than being sexually charged and driven by attraction. There's a moral grey line of whether they should even be in each others company as well as attraction, admiration, curiosity, and some disdain that I think Nolan managed to capture with his version. Don't get me wrong, I would have liked more scenes between them, but I liked what he delivered.

I liked the moral stuff in Nolan's version, but it didn't really connect with the romance aspect. There was barely any romance between them in TDKR. I'm not saying that's a bad thing per say, but if they want to hint at Bruce ending up with her, the audience needs to believe it.

The funny thing is Chris did a much better job with making us believe that Cobb and Mal cared for each other in Inception.

I'll take Rachel Dawes over her anyday. Rachel taught Bruce the difference between justice and revenge, he longed to be with her since childhood, she was the one hope he had past Batman, her death shook him to the core, changing him into a recluse, and the two characters had two whole movies to develop a believable relationship together, where we, the viewer, became invested in the two and wanted to see them together.

Selina was just some tart in a tight suit, who stole his dead mother's jewelry, despised him entirely, left Bruce to die at the hands of Bane, hardly shared any scenes with him, and despite all of this, for some reason, at the end of the movie she asks him to "runaway with her" and in the end, we're led to believe they get married and live happily ever after. (There's something to add to the "Unintentionally funny Moments" thread..)

Bruce/Rachel FTW.

Rachel had more development per se, but there was never any chemistry in their writing. The only time I felt they enjoyed each other's company in two films was when they were children and when Bruce first sees Rachel when he comes home from college. The rest of BB she is lecturing him about either being a failure to his father's legacy or about how he is shallow or finally about how they can't be together because he's Batman. In the second movie, while much better acted, she has real chemistry and sparks with Harvey Dent. With Bruce? It feels like she's spending the whole movie trying to figure out how to let him down as gently as possible that she moved on. Bruce obsessed over her because in some way's he has a very boyish view of the world and put her on a pedestal like she was his destiny, but as Alfred has to finally tell him in TDKR....she wasn't.

Plus, I think people like Selina better because she was fun. While I don't think they earned a "settling down" happily ever after in the movie, they had real chemistry and were very entertaining to watch. She made Bruce have fun and therefore the audience. By contrast, Rachel just made Bruce feel burdened and guilty. That's why Selina in the end was a better pairing for him. At least to date and have a real relationship with away from the cape and cowl.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batman

The BR relationship is still tops. You actually felt that Keaton/Pfeiffer COULD end up in a cafe together one day.

I disagree. I'm not saying one relationship is better than the other. But Bruce and Selina in BR were always a doomed romance. She could never be with him at a cafe because it isn't true to her own self. She says as much when she scratches his face. They're both much too damaged for a happy ending and must accept dying alone. That was the ending of the movie and why Burton got fired.

As I said, I can see Nolan's Bruce and Selina who have such chemistry and mutual attraction/admiration, giving it a shot. Getting to the point of wearing his mother's pearls? I will take Nolan at his word, but they must have really hit it off well when they went to Europe after the finale of the movie.

__________________
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Truthfully, I don't have one. Gotham isn't the place for couples, it seems. This is probably the least romance-driven trilogy I think I've seen.

That is as it should be. Bruce Wayne doesn't lend himself well to romantic storylines -- though they tried in the Burton and Schumaker movies. He's obsessive. He's driven. He is, at base, married to his crusade. Rachel understood that ... which is why that 'relationship' went absolutely nowhere.

Rachel and Dent were a genuine couple, I guess ... 'til the Joker killed her and burned his face off. So much for that.

Wayne and Miranda Tate weren't a couple. She was using him, and him her (or so he thought). He needed a soft place to land ... and someone to take control of Wayne Enterprises to keep it from Daggett. She was a mole, and needed to infiltrate Wayne Enteprises. She hated him. That's the opposite of a 'relationship'.

Even with the ending -- I just don't get the feeling that Wayne is the type to settle down with Selina Kyle and have a couple of bat-rugrats. I get the feeling he'll take a vacation ... and eventually his obsession will overtake, and he'll be drawn back in to the war on crime. It is his nature. He lives for it. It has already happened once. Selina Kyle is also a thrill-seeker ... so she's probably not out of the game either. They may be perfect for each other insofar as they are both completely unmarriagable. The fact that they are equally obsesssed and thrill-seeking is why they'll never last.

As much as various teenybopper fangirls might wish otherwise ... there are precisely zero longstanding romantic relationships in this thing. It just doesn't fit with the core characters.

I'm still surprised how much I enjoyed this couple. It may have not been as developed as it could've been, but everything felt real between the two. To be honest, their relationship between the two in BR is the main reason I even watch that movie anymore.

Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes is my second favorite, who felt like a real couple too. As someone else posted above me, if felt like Rachel was trying to let Bruce down as easily as possible throughout TDK. Rachel still had feelings for Bruce and still considered him her best friend, but she loved Harvey. It made her character much better to me after BB.

Technically, Bruce Wayne and Miranda Tate never really happened; it was all an act. Their quick romance was the one I didn't like about the movie until it was revealed that Miranda was really Talia. I'm sure Bruce felt for Miranda a bit, but it's clear Talia never really loved Bruce (at least to me).

Scenes in TDKR had me choked up far more than any romantic one did in the entire series. Plus, these two loved one another from the very day Wayne was born.

Couldn't agree more. Alfred/Bruce FTW.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJ

Selina Kyle is winning?

I'll take Rachel Dawes over her anyday. Rachel taught Bruce the difference between justice and revenge, he longed to be with her since childhood, she was the one hope he had past Batman, her death shook him to the core, changing him into a recluse, and the two characters had two whole movies to develop a believable relationship together, where we, the viewer, became invested in the two and wanted to see them together.

Selina was just some tart in a tight suit, who stole his dead mother's jewelry, despised him entirely, left Bruce to die at the hands of Bane, hardly shared any scenes with him, and despite all of this, for some reason, at the end of the movie she asks him to "runaway with her" and in the end, we're led to believe they get married and live happily ever after. (There's something to add to the "Unintentionally funny Moments" thread..)

Bruce/Rachel FTW.

Hathaway was great as Catwoman but for me, the "romance" felt undone. Like all of your examples illustrate. The character simply wasn't fleshed out enough and written enough as a love interest to really believe that she's the one who would end up living happily after with Bruce Wayne.

"We want to see the newest things. That is because we want to see the future, even if only momentarily. It is the moment in which, even if we don't completely understand what we have glimpsed, we are nonetheless touched by it. This is what we have come to call art." -Takashi Murakami